Jobs / Healthcare / 29-2011.00

Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists

Perform complex medical laboratory tests for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. May train or supervise staff.

US jobs
Not reported by BLS
Job family
Healthcare

Can agents do the work of medical and clinical laboratory technologists?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Healthcare:

  • Task levelPartialOne benchmark, from early 2025. On Stanford's MedAgentBench, where agents do clinical tasks in a simulated electronic health record, the best recorded model completes 69.7% of tasks (Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2). It has no maintained leaderboard, so newer models are not measured. No benchmark in our collection tests work with patients.
  • Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. GDPval includes nurses among its 44 occupations. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all occupations. No benchmark in our collection tests clinical work over days, such as managing a patient's care.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in healthcare, not always this occupation's tasks.

  • GDPvalby OpenAIProject level · Wins plus ties against experts
    84.9%GPT-5.5 · Apr 2026
    Strong
  • GDPval-AAby Artificial AnalysisProject level · GDPval-AA Elo
    1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026
    Unrated
  • MedAgentBenchby Stanford UniversityTask level · Task success rate
    69.7%Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2 · 24 Jan 2025
    Strong

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Analyze samples of biological material for chemical content or reaction.
  • Analyze laboratory findings to check the accuracy of the results.
  • Conduct chemical analysis of body fluids, including blood, urine, or spinal fluid, to determine presence of normal or abnormal components.
  • Enter data from analysis of medical tests or clinical results into computer for storage.
  • Collect and study blood samples to determine the number of cells, their morphology, or their blood group, blood type, or compatibility for transfusion purposes, using microscopic techniques.
  • Set up, clean, and maintain laboratory equipment.
  • Operate, calibrate, or maintain equipment used in quantitative or qualitative analysis, such as spectrophotometers, calorimeters, flame photometers, or computer-controlled analyzers.
  • Establish or monitor quality assurance programs or activities to ensure the accuracy of laboratory results.
  • Supervise, train, or direct lab assistants, medical and clinical laboratory technicians or technologists, or other medical laboratory workers engaged in laboratory testing.
  • Select and prepare specimens and media for cell cultures, using aseptic technique and knowledge of medium components and cell requirements.
  • Obtain, cut, stain, and mount biological material on slides for microscopic study and diagnosis, following standard laboratory procedures.
  • Provide technical information about test results to physicians, family members, or researchers.
Other job titles for this occupation (30)

Clinical Chemist · Clinical Laboratory Scientist (CLS) · Clinical Laboratory Technologist · Histologist Technologist · Lab Tech (Laboratory Technologist) · Medical Lab Technologist (Medical Laboratory Technologist) · Medical Technologist (MT) · Microbiology Technologist (MT) · MLS (Medical Laboratory Scientist) · Technologist · Biochemistry Technologist · Blood Bank Laboratory Technologist · Blood Bank Medical Technologist · Blood Bank Technologist · Cath Lab Technologist (Catheterization Laboratory Technologist) · Chemistry Technologist · Clinical Research Associate · Clinical Researcher · Differential Specialist · Hematology Technologist · Histotechnologist · Immunohematologist · Lab Specialist (Laboratory Specialist) · Medical Numerical Control Operator · Microbiology Medical Technologist · Pathology Laboratory Technologist (Pathology Lab Technologist) · Research Technologist · Tissue Technologist · Travel Interventional Radiology Technologist · Travel Medical Technologist